Schumacher plays second fiddle

Michael Schumacher did his best to talk up qualifying second for today's Turkish Grand Prix, but his set expression said that this was not part of the grand plan in the battle with Fernando Alonso for the championship. The good news was that Schumacher's team-mate, Felipe Massa, had taken the first pole position of his Formula One career; the downside was that Alonso had qualified third and will join Massa in starting from the clean side of the track.

With the greatest of respect to Massa, Schumacher was expected to be quicker than the 25-year-old Brazilian, but two driving errors by the German indicated that it is he rather than Alonso who is feeling the pressure as the season moves into the final quarter. Schumacher suggested that his Ferrari might be carrying more fuel than the Renault but, first, he will have to fend off his rival during the dash to the first corner, the dirtier side of the track - away from the racing line - being unlikely to help his cause.

Jenson Button, still on a high after his maiden victory three weeks ago in Hungary, was disappointed with seventh fastest time. The Englishman found that his Honda was losing time to the Renaults on the back straight and through three of the slower corners on a difficult and demanding track that sets the standard for new venues.

Apart from putting themselves in a position to challenge Ferrari during 58 laps this afternoon, Renault were pleased that competitive lap times from both Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella (fourth fastest) helped banish suggestions that their dominance of the season so far had been due solely to a feature of the car that has since been banned.

A strong performance by Renault this weekend will have the additional benefit of weakening scurrilous suggestions that the FIA is manipulating the sport it is supposed to be running in an even-handed manner. Motor racing's governing body has declared illegal the so-called mass damper used by several teams.

This has affected Renault more than their rivals because the world champions were alone in designing their car with the damper as an integral part rather than adding it at a later stage.

Renault feel aggrieved because they received clearance from the FIA to use the damper 12 months ago. The FIA agree that the original intention, as described by Renault, was to help keep the front wheels in more regular contact with the track. However, further information has come to light (presumably from a rival team that could not make the damper work so efficiently) that shows the part in question also has an aerodynamic influence on the car. This, according to the FIA, is illegal even though Renault claim that the aerodynamic aspect is both coincidental and insignificant.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, the timing and handling of the issue is unfortunate since it has come at a time when Renault appeared to be walking off with a second successive championship and this could be construed as a means of keeping the title race open. The FIA's critics point to Renault's poor showing in Germany, the first race in which Renault were obliged to run without the damper. In fact, the poor performance (Alonso struggled to finish fifth) was due in no small part to the wrong choice of tyres and a change - since revised - to the car's rear suspension.

Either way, Renault were briefly on the back foot, Schumacher having reduced Alonso's lead from 25 points to 10. Rubbing salt into the Anglo-French team's wound, supporters of the FIA's judgement say Renault are fortunate to have been allowed to keep the points earned with a car that, according to the latest edict, has been illegal all season. That is hardly the fault of Renault and it also highlights the FIA's difficulty in policing technical complexities and rules which teams employ ranks of experts to master and circumvent.

Such irrelevances to the paying public had no part in motor sport 50 years ago, a fact that will be emphasised in West Sussex next weekend. The Goodwood Revival encourages the public and participants to wear period dress to match the collection of cars taking part in this celebration of racing in the Fifties and Sixties. Admission to the three-day event is ticket only (www.goodwood.co.uk) and the absence of mass dampers is guaranteed.

Nelson Piquet Junior reduced Lewis Hamilton's lead of the GP2 championship to six points when the Brazilian started from pole position and led every lap of yesterday's race at Istanbul Park. Hamilton moved from fifth on the grid to second within a handful of laps but the Englishman was unable to catch Piquet and finished 17.8 seconds behind. Piquet will start today's race from eighth on the grid, one position behind Hamilton. The final two races will support the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on 9-10 September.